Oilers fans wanted new GM to blow it all up, but only two shots fired so far

When Ken Holland came in as the head honcho, the long-suffering fans in Oiler Nation wanted him to blow things up.

But so far, there’s been only two major moves — vice-president of hockey ops Craig MacTavish leaving to coach in Yaroslavl, outside Moscow, and now Duane Sutter, who headed up the pro scouting department, drawing the short straw.

Sutter, 59, the VP of player personnel, who won four Stanley Cup rings with the New York Islanders in their glory days and later was coach of the Florida Panthers, had been with the Oilers eight years.

He’s a hockey man, through and through, part of Sutter royalty. But he was tied in with Peter Chiarelli, even if there’s a sentiment that the former general manager operated in a vacuum on many of his trades.

“Unfortunately, the Oilers have made the playoffs once in the last 13 years and there’s going to have to be some change,” said the new Edmonton GM, who has been on the job two weeks. “I’ve known Duane since the late ’80s or early ’90s when he coached the Medicine Hat Tigers. He lived down the from block from me and lived across the street from my in-laws. He’s a good man, a good hockey man and he’s a worker but I’ve got to make some change and see where we go.”

Holland would like a new head of pro scouting by the draft, when there are going to be trades made, and certainly going into free-agency, where they hope to sign a few bottom-six forwards.

He said he wanted to make the call on Sutter now to give up lead time before the draft for him to find other work.

The Oilers made a series of forgettable trades under the former GM in Chiarelli’s three and half years here. The pro scouts assess other players’ strengths and weaknesses, although Chiarelli may also have made deals by going with his own gut, so it’s not totally right to paint the pro scouting department with the same brush.The other North American pro scouts – Paul Messier and Chris Cichocki – are still working for the team.

Holland admitted if trades don’t work out, the GM and pro scouts are “all lumped in together. You’re a team. The pro scout is the person the manager deals with the most. Not every decision works out, but you have to have more good ones than bad.”

The natural assumption would be Holland turning to his old club in Detroit for Sutter’s replacement, but unless he’s giving Wings head of pro scouting and Hall of Famer Mark Howe a better job, such as assistant GM, and more money, he can’t get him for a lateral move.

Two other Western-based pro scouts, Archie Henderson and Bruce Haralson, are very smart, hard-working men who grind it out too. So keep their names in mind. Keep Sean Burke’s name as well; he’s Montreal’s Western pro scout who lives in Phoenix but has a place at Sylvan Lake. He was getting a second interview for the Oilers GM job before Holland became their main target.

NEW HEAD COACH

Holland’s search for new head coach might happen by Friday.

Dave Tippett is the front-runner with the feeling they need an experienced guy for the Pacific Division to match wits with Todd McLellan, Peter DeBoer, Gerard Gallant, Bill Peters and Rick Tocchet. But if Holland doesn’t have his man by Friday, he won’t name one until the week of June 3-7. He’ll be tied up at the NHL Combine in Buffalo the week between, looking at players for the June draft and won’t take his eye off that ball.

Holland isn’t saying who’s on his short list of about four for interviews but former Penguins/Buffalo head man Dan Bylsma, who was in Detroit as Jeff Blashill’s assistant, reportedly isn’t in the running. There’s a possibility Oilers assistant Glen Gulutzan, a head man in Dallas and Calgary, is still in the hunt. It doesn’t appear Holland has asked Dallas GM Jim Nill for permission to talk to Todd Nelson, the Oilers interim head coach in 2014 when Dallas Eakins was fired.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea what I want to do. There’s probably somebody a little ahead,” said Holland. “Ideally, I’m looking for a guy who’s been in the (head-coach) seat before. Am I open to hiring somebody who’s never done that? I am. I hired Jeff Blashill for his first head-coaching job in the NHL. My original list had most guys who’d been NHL head coaches before but there were three or four who hadn’t, the top up-and-comers.”

Holland wouldn’t be adverse to hiring somebody who had been been a head coach, failed, and was better for it the second time around.

“Look at (Craig) Berube in St. Louis. Being in the chair once and you get fired, the perception is you are better the next time with decisions you make. That’s the advantage, gaining that experience, as long as you have passion.”

Tippett, 57, has coached over 1,100 NHL games in Dallas and Arizona but hasn’t been behind a bench since 2017. He’s working for Seattle’s expansion entry right now.

“What you’re looking for in a coach is somebody with energy and passion and you’re up to speed with how the game’s played today. Experience is a good thing,” said Holland.

This ’n’ that: The Oilers signed Bakersfield defenceman Logan Day, who was on an AHL contract last season, to an NHL deal. The 24-year-old who played an NCAA Division 3 school at Endicott College outside Boston, led the Condors in defence points this season. And his play was so good Brandon Manning watched all the playoff games.

Oil Spills podcast: Oilers out with coaches old

Craig McTavish, the Oilers’ bench boss for the first eight NHL seasons of the 21st Century, lately senior vice-president of hockey operations, and now a former member of the organization after he left last week to coach in Russia.

Ralph Krueger, head coach of the Oilers in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, who was hired last week by the Buffalo Sabres as coach after leaving his chairman’s job in soccer’s English Premier League with Southampton. He had recently said he wasn’t interested in returning to the Oilers.

And did you know Duane Sutter was once an NHL head coach? For parts of two seasons with the Florida Panthers in 2000-01 and 2001-02. He was let go from his job as Oilers’ head of pro scouting earlier this week.

And, eventually and maybe soon, a new one. The Oilers are expected to hire a head coach perhaps by the end of the week. Odds are it’ll be former Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett, who’s been working with Seattle’s expansion franchise, and not Todd Nelson.

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